ABSTRACT
How did Calvin’s eventual victory over his opponents in Geneva come about? For one thing, the very strength of Perrin’s position and that of his ramified political connections caused evident unease over a monopoly of power and patronage in the hands of one particular faction. In response to this unease and partly also as a result of the enfranchisement of proCalvin French expatriates, council elections in February 1555 led to landslide victories for Calvin’s partisans. These results seem to have induced Perrin to attempt a coup, but the resultant messy street fighting cast this man of action in the character of a discredited and ineffective man of violence. Perrin’s speedy departure for Bern in the summer was followed by a bloodletting of his followers.
